Climate Change Protesters Tangle With Police at Wall St.

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Demonstrators protesting the financial industry’s role in climate change rushed barricades the police had set up near Wall Street.Published OnSept. 22, 2014CreditImage by Andrew Kelly/European Pressphoto Agency

About 100 climate change protesters were arrested on Monday as hundreds marched through the streets of Lower Manhattan, at one point clashing with the police as they tried to push through barricades sealing off Wall Street.

Those protesters, some linking arms, had marched two blocks north on Broadway from Bowling Green just after 3:30 p.m.

At Wall Street the group turned right, and some marchers began dismantling metal barricades that separated the street and the sidewalk.

Police officers rushed to replace the barricades, and the marchers surged forward.

For the next 15 minutes a furious shoving match took place as protesters tried to push the barricades over and the police pushed the barricades back into the marchers.

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Many of the demonstrators dressed in blue to symbolize a wave of water — water that could engulf the low-lying streets near the New York Stock Exchange, as it did during Hurricane Sandy.CreditChristian Hansen for The New York Times

A few officers punched the hands of marchers gripping the barricades. Then, a burst of pepper spray sent many of the demonstrators reeling backward.

The police said three protesters had been arrested by 7 p.m. The bulk of the arrests took place over the next couple of hours, as several dozen protesters ignored orders to disperse and sat in the middle of Broadway. Officers surrounded them as others on the sidewalk chanted, “We believe that we will win.” Then officers began arresting those in the street and leading them away. There were no reports of injuries, the police said.

The participants had begun marching late Monday morning from Battery Park to Wall Street to protest the role they say investments in companies with practices that damage the environment play in encouraging climate change.

Streaming out of the park, protesters made a sharp turn onto Broadway, and marched north between idling buses and trucks, chanting, “The people are rising, no more compromising.” They stopped just north of Bowling Green, blocking Broadway up to Morris Street.

There, they sat down, unfurled a huge banner denouncing capitalism and held a series of meetings as marching bands played.

Among those blocking Broadway was Gabriele Romeri from Ossining, N.Y., who said she thought that moneyed interests were creating energy policies at the expense of the public good.

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The police arrested a protester dressed in a polar bear costume. About 100 climate change protesters were arrested on Monday.CreditMichael Appleton for The New York Times

“I think that it is important for the sake of democracy that the people stand up,” she said. “Business is basically running the government.”

Many of the demonstrators dressed in blue to symbolize a wave of water — water that could engulf the low-lying streets near the New York Stock Exchange, as the storm surge from the East River and New York Harbor did during Hurricane Sandy.

The event, called Flood Wall Street, was planned over months as a sharper and more rebellious corollary to the large-scale climate change march that organizers said drew more than 300,000 people to Midtown on Sunday.

The activities on Monday were organized without official permission from the city, and many people taking part said they were willing to be arrested to show their conviction that the economic system encourages investment that is damaging to the environment.

Among them was Yates McKee, an art critic from Inwood in Upper Manhattan. “We’re highlighting capitalism as the target,” Mr. McKee said. “Capitalism equals climate chaos.”

As the protesters took to the roadways on Monday, blocking vehicles while chanting, dancing and holding meetings, the police appeared to take a restrained role, containing the roving group instead of confronting it directly.

J. David Goodman contributed reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A23 of the New York edition with the headline: Climate Change Protesters Tangle With Police at Wall St.. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe